Good Evening All -- we have arrived in NOLA and are settled in.  Our travel has been blessed -- we delayed our departure just a little, allowing the plows to clear the roads before leaving.  We had a surprise as we reached Effingham, IL, as we saw quite a number of semis and cars off the road and in the median.  As we pulled off the interstate for lunch, we discovered why -- an ice storm the night before that caught most by surprise.  We slowed down.

Dinner at Gus's Fried Chicken in Memphis was a treat!  We wandered down to Beale Street and enjoyed the jazz, blues, and rock of many local musicians.

We were in awe of all the progress at Trinity (even though two of us were here just 10 days ago). The drywall is completely installed and the tapers are working hard to get the finishing job done. Mike and Lark spent time snapping chalk lines and prepping for the start of tile tomorrow morning. Jen led us in an opening devotion that included singing I Have Decided to Follow Jesus.

Sue M. was scheduled to join us tomorrow, but has fallen ill and will be unable to make the trip. We were sad to here this news and are lifting her in prayer for a speedy recovery.

We hit it early tomorrow – lots of tile to install! More tomorrow….with pictures!

OK.....a little tired this evening....but all for good reason.  500+ feet of tile already installed....120 more boxes to be delivered tomorrow.  About 1/3 of the sanctuary field tiles are in mortar -- a great start.  Mike W. put his professional skills to work today guiding/instructing the tile team -- thankful for his leadership.  Lark dabbled in a little electrical before joining Jen on the tiling team.  Shelly made several trips to Home Depot -- YEAH!

We made new friends today with folks from Pittsburgh -- very thankful for their strong backs, humor, and hard work.  Looking forward to working together all week.  

The professional drywall taping team is in the building this week taking care of all the corners/seams and making the walls look great!  Trinity has really transformed in the past two weeks -- check out the pics!

We are enjoying a little music via Lark's guitar/harmonica this evening and will calling it a night soon.  Love to all our family/friends back home!

It's great when God slows us down and redirects for the greater good.  We had a delay in getting materials to the job site today that necessitated Frank & Ryan (Pennsylvania) driving to Slidell to pick up 20 cases of tile. We ran out of tile mid-afternoon and the truck with the additional 90 cases didn’t arrive until 4pm. While there were a few odd jobs to attend to, the lack of materials gave us all time to get to know one another better and break down those awkward barriers. We Illinoisans are really enjoying the Pennsylvanians!

About 65% of the sanctuary is complete…grouting and additional tiling starts tomorrow. We are so appreciative of the taping/painting crew helping us unload the additional 90 cases of tile and 70+ bags of mortar and grout – heavy, heavy stuff.

Several of us worked on knocking down a retaining wall, as the front yard of the church will soon be graded and the paver walk installed. Steve is ordering the bricks tomorrow and we appreciate all who have ordered personalized bricks to add to the Claiborne Courtyard.

We enjoyed dinner tonight and are settling in for the State of the Union Address that begins shortly. Heading to bed early tonight…much to do tomorrow.  If you'd like to take a walk-thru of Trinity, check out the video Lark shot. http://youtu.be/XMeWx_JIVQ8

Prayer of Thanks: for a successful surgery for Dawn Simpson. 

Wednesday is always a tough day on mission trips. The excitement of being here and meeting new people gives way a little….especially when one is working on one’s knees most of the day. And yet, we persevered and nearly finished laying tile in the sanctuary today! There is a 3’x30’ section along the back wall that needs to be completed…then we start moving down the hall. Grouting began today, as well – more time on our knees. With that said, when we stop to consider how life changed/continues to change for so many in the Lower Ninth following Katrina, a little time on our knees seems pretty insignificant. When we really stop to think about it, we are all brought to our knees by the circumstances that bring us to Trinity.

It really was beautiful today in New Orleans. Big storm is expected tomorrow as we have our last full day of work – a big push to the end. Bedtime will come early this evening – lots of tired backs, arms, and knees. Please continue to pray for the restoration efforts, for good health, and for all the people of New Orleans. Love and peace to all of you.

What a great day! The sun was shining for the majority of our working hours at Trinity, a great deal of tiling was completed, and many neighbors stopped by Grandpa Bill’s Coffee Stand to chat for a while. The sanctuary, hallway, front foyer, and two bathrooms are tiled! WOOHOOO! Five new friends from Pennsylvania joined us in grouting this morning and made a HUGE dent in our progress. We were able to catch up to the goal we set of having all these areas tiled. Love it when God puts people in your path when you need them!

Pastor Dave Buss from Trinity in Baton Rouge brought three members of his congregation to Trinity today to staff G’pa Bill’s Coffee Stand. Pastor Dave led RAI Ministries/Camp Restore for several years and played a major role in the Trinity project. It was wonderful to reunite with him and share time with Miss Dottie, Miss Joann, and Mr. Bill. They had the opportunity to share the good news of Jesus with many who stopped by the stand for coffee and donuts.

Jimmy from Schaumburg comes down to Camp Restore for a couple months during the winter to help around the camp. He has been our right-hand during Steve’s absence from Trinity and we really appreciate all he does. You’ll see a pic below of him mowing the yard today.

Tomorrow we grout the scads of tiles that were installed today and then hit the road to head home. The professional drywall taping crew is working diligently upstairs, so all floor installers who follow should have beautiful walls surrounding them.

We are headed out for dinner tonight in the Garden District – looking forward to some good Cajun cookin’. It has been wonderful to share this experience with our friends from Pennsylvania and each other and we are excited about how much we accomplished. Also excited about heading home to our loved ones tomorrow.

More from the road tomorrow. Please think about coming down in the next 70+ days to help in the final push at Trinity. Enjoy the pics!

Done!

Additional Pennsylvania volunteers joined us today at Trinity to complete grouting all the tiles that were installed, so we can say officially that the sanctuary, hall, baths, and foyer are DONE!  Jen led a wonderful devotion before we went to The Joint for a quick lunch and hit the road for Memphis.  We are in the hotel for the night and will be heading home early tomorrow -- should be in by late afternoon.

Special thanks to Walt at Camp Restore for making arrangements for additional volunteers on TH/FRI.  Thank you, as well, to all our new friends from Pennsylvania.  Laurie, Steve, Ryan, Ken, Patsy, & Frank -- you all are awesome!  Thanks for making it a fun and meaningful week at Trinty and for working your tail feathers off.

Mike did a fabulous job of leading the tiling crew this week -- so thankful for his skill set and leadership.  Lark was on the wet saw making precision cuts and directing the grouters -- thanks Lark!  Jen has the toughest set of knees I've ever seen and worked so hard...and spread of a lot of good cheer!

Another Trinity week has come to a close and we leave the South with a renewed understanding of why it is important to go where God leads us, even if A, B, and C are not place before we get there.  

Peace ~  Shelly